Many different consumer electronic products are powered by direct-current (DC) voltage, as well as alternating-current,(AC) voltage. However, standard line voltage available from wall outlets is AC. Therefore, the AC voltage must be convened to a DC voltage by an AC adaptor to be used in these electronic products.
AC adaptors convert AC voltage (for example, 110 volts at 60 Hertz) from a standard wall outlet to a DC voltage (for example, 12 volts) which is useable by an electronic product such as a calculator, portable stereo, video game, and so on.
AC adaptors generally include a plug which plugs into a wall outlet, a transformer which steps the line voltage down, a rectifier circuit which rectifies the stepped-down AC voltage to a DC voltage, and a plug which plugs into an electronic product.
As AC adaptors are so widely used, numerous types of adaptors have been developed, each having a rated voltage for a particular product and each having a plug which has a particular configuration only engageable with a compatible socket of that particular product. Accordingly, a consumer often needs a separate AC adaptor for each electronic product in use, that is, an AC adaptor for use with a calculator is not necessarily compatible with a portable stereo. Furthermore, a consumer must ensure that the plug has a compatible configuration to the socket in the electronic product, even though the voltage is compatible.
Although a compatible AC adaptor is usually included with the purchase of an electronic product, the AC adaptor may need replacing. The consumer must then be sure to purchase a replacement AC adaptor that is compatible with the product.
Furthermore, manufacturers of AC adaptors, particularly those adaptors for the replacement market, have to manufacture separate adaptors for each plug configuration. Many times for a particular electronic industry, for example, home video games, the same DC voltage is used by most of the manufacturers in that particular industry with the only difference being in the configuration of the plug or socket. Therefore, as much of the cost in producing an AC adaptor is tied up in material and labor in assembling the transformer unit, and as the plug or socket is often the only alteration between different adaptors, costs could be substantially reduce by producing a universal AC adaptor which is compatible with most of the video game units on the market at any given time.
One example of such an adaptor has a plug unit with three sockets. The plug unit is a singular, rigid body having the connecting plugs or sockets offset from each other by 90 degrees; i.e., they are perpendicular to each other.
However, because of the geometrical configuration, this type of adaptor is limited in the number of sockets which can be disposed on the plug unit, specifically three or possibly four sockets. If there were more than four sockets, then the angle between adjacent sockets would be less than 90 degrees, and one socket would obstruct the process of inserting another into an electrical appliance by making contact with the appliance itself. Furthermore, this type of adaptor can only be used with one electrical appliance at any given time as the sockets are fixed and unable to move independently.
Therefore, there is an unfulfilled need in the art of AC adaptors for an adaptor which is universally applicable to a particular consumer electronic market, is flexible in its utility, and is able to be used with more than one electrical appliance at the same time.